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Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Docomo to release nano SIMs

Posted by
SBS

NTT Docomo announced the sale of Nano SIMs from November 1, 2012. Without a doubt, JCI will also offer them shortly, so it will be easier to use an iPhone 5 with a b-mobile SIM card. For reasons not yet entirely clear, iPhone 5s won't connect to Docomo's Xi LTE network. So an LTE iPhone will be stuck at 3G speeds when used with Docomo.

Once the iPhone 5 is jailbroken, we'll have a better idea of the problem. This will only work for unlocked iPhones, for example from Hong Kong. The US Verizon iPhone 5 is reported to have an unlocked GSM/W-CDMA/LTE baseband (thanks to Google), so it might work with Docomo. I highly recommend waiting for confirmation that Verizon iPhones work with Docomo before running out and signing 2-year contracts.

Just changed the wife's micro sim (iPhone 4) over to a Nano sim (iPhone5) from Docomo this morning. Cost = nil. Each contract user can apparently request a new sim every 12 months for no fee. As stated no LTE coverage and am waiting on a response from Apple as to why Docomo LTE is not available on unlocked GSM.

I'm starting to wonder why 80% of the entries on this blog are about the iPhone. I like the iPhone fine and all, but it's one phone of many - and in Japan, the local phones have all kinds of spiffy features the iPhone doesn't. What's more, the iPhone 5 is barely different from the iPhone 4 in any way that matters. Wake me up when Apple has saifu keitai or NotTV. (Disclaimer: I have an iPhone 4, an Xperia Acro HD, and a Galaxy Note.)

Yeah yeah, I heard this excuse many times when Apple releases new iPhone from those people that don't own the latest iPhone/iPad, that it is not much different than the last version or even the last two versions. Well, we disagree, so please let us enjoy our magical expensive device, while we let you enjoy your messy Androids.Disclaimer: Although I have always keep up with latest iPhone, I also own GS2, GN, N7, and Xperia. :P

Changed to nano sim also today, told the lady that I want to keep my mopera and sp-mode. I had to pay the 3150 yen though, because this is the second time this year I requested for sim card. Had to do it last month after my failed attempt to cut my mini sim to nano sim.

Has somebody looked into using configuration profiles (often used by companies to configure certain settings) to get Xi/LTE working? http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#featuredarticles/iPhoneConfigurationProfileRef/Introduction/Introduction.html